GUSTO GUSTO
Marja Bål Nango
Norway
Ánte’s journey to self-acceptance as a closeted gay Sámi man in his fifties is put to the test in the city.
SYNOPSIS
Ánte, a Sámi closeted gay man in his fifties, is visiting Stockholm for a work conference. Like many times before, he uses the city trips to escape the conservatism of his community. While other participants follow the conference’s schedule, Ánte goes to a nearby pub for a date. Unknowingly, the others end up in the same place and he is faced with the difficulties of being openly gay. Gustaf, his date, is sacrificed in order for his secret to be kept and Ánte falls back into his old habits. Desperate for intimacy, Ánte tries to regain Gustaf’s attention — this time with much more to explain.
INTENTION
Coming out is generally perceived as a rite of passage for teens and twenty-somethings. And not only that: it is often seen as a single event or time-limited period. The reality for some can actually be very different. For Ánte, a man in his fifties, still in the closet, it has been a dragged-out process for his whole life. Having grown up in a small, conservative, and indigenous Sámi community, coming out was never an option for Ánte. His fear of discrimination and exclusion from his own culture hinders him from acting out fully.
We will see Ánte trying to become a free man at heart. Ánte wonders if it is ever too late to come out of the closet, as he constantly pushes it into the future. There is no one way to transform into the true version of oneself and some of us never even manage to do it.
DIRECTOR
Marja Bål Nango
Marja Bål Nango is a film director, screenwriter and producer. Her latest short, The Tongues, won Best International Short Film at the 2020 Palm Springs Shortfest. She was a Merata Mita Fellow and Screenwriters Fellow at Sundance Film Festival 2022 with her debut feature film project My Reindeerherder.
SCREENWRITER
Smávut Ingir Bål
Smávut Ingir Bål is a screenwriter. She previously worked as a scriptwriter and host for Sámi Children’s TV at NRK TV, and was educated at the Norwegian Children’s Book Institute in Oslo. She wrote and co-directed Hilbes biigá, which was screened at nearly 30 film festivals, and The Tongues, which won four awards, three of them at Oscar® Qualifying Film Festivals.
Genre
Drama
Length
15 min
Language
Sámi, Norwegian, Swedish
Co-writer
Smávut Ingir Bål
Shooting location
Stockholm, Sweden
Production company
Máigon Film (Norway)
Estimated budget
€180.000
Secured funding
International Sámi Film Institute (ISFI) - €2.800, North Norwegian Film Center (NNFS) - €2.800
Looking for
Coproducers, Sales, Distribution, Festivals, TV Broadcast/Presale, potential partners